Ireland's last payphone boxes to be removed by the end of 2024

Irish telecommunications company Eir has announced that it will remove the last of Ireland's public payphone boxes, almost 100 years after they first appeared on Irish streets. 

There are 105 phoneboxes remaining in Ireland, with 11 set to become digital kiosks and 94 set to be removed over the coming months. 

Eir said 60 former phoneboxes have already been converted into digital kiosks, providing information systems for local authority services such as maps for visitors. 

The telecommunications company said a further 76 former phone kiosks have been transformed into rapid electric vehicle chargers, with a further 66 set to be installed soon. 

Meanwhile, other disused phoneboxes have been donated to community groups in recent years, with some kiosks converted into defibrillator sites and information points. One former phonebox in Roscommon was subsequently converted into a religious shrine. 

Payphone boxes were first installed in Ireland almost 100 years ago and Eir has announced that it has refurbished a "K1" kiosk - the first type of payphone box installed on Irish streets - as a tribute to the end of the payphone era. 

Eir added that the refurbished kiosk will be donated for public exhibition later in the year. 

"The public payphone was an important part of our lives for generations and it is fitting that to mark this, we have carefully refurbished one of the original phone boxes and we plan to donate it to a cultural institution where it can be preserved as an integral part of our national heritage," Eir CEO Oliver Loomes said in a statement. 

"We've taken deliberate steps, in collaboration with communities and local authorities, to thoughtfully transition this legacy infrastructure.

"Our goal has been over the past four years to find the best ways to repurpose or preserve these kiosks, directly involving the communities they serve. We are pleased that more than 200 sites will now keep people connected via new digital pedestals or electric car charging points." 

At one point, there were around 3,300 payphone boxes scattered across Ireland, but the Universal Service Obligation (OSO) for the provision of public payphones was removed in 2020 due to the decline in usage. 

Una Stafford, Managing Director of Open Eir Networks, said in a statement that the removal of the last payphone boxes in Ireland is a "symbolic step toward a more connected, digital future". 

"While we close this chapter in Ireland's telecommunication history, we open another, focusing on innovative solutions that align with the needs of our communities and the environment," Stafford said in a statement.